246 Scarcity and Surfeit
most of southern Ethiopia. European imperialism was encroaching into the
Horn of Africa at the time. Italy, France and Britain claimed different parts of
the Horn with the result that present-day Somalia was partitioned among the
three European powers. Britain also controlled Sudan to the west. Italy
claimed the Red Sea coast from Assab to Massawa.
In the face of these colonial incursions, Menelik expanded to the south to
stave off the threat of further colonial expansion in the region and to ensure
independence for Ethiopia.12 Another factor underlying Menelik's expansion
to the south was the desire to control its vast and rich land and natural
resources to relieve the growing famine further to the north. Others explain
Menelik's expansion as imperialist.13
The seeds of conflict were planted as the central state expanded and
imposed a new political and administrative system onto customary social for-
mations. This was manifest in several ways. As the central state expanded
outward, competition for valuable land and natural resources was common.
At the same time, different groups moved inwards to Ethiopia in search of
land and resources. The Oromo invasion of the Ethiopian plateau in the 16th
century is one example.
The roots of ethnicity can also be traced to this period since the various eth-
nic groups in all parts of Ethiopia fell under the control of a centralised mili-
tary controlled by the Amhara and Tigrean, who assimilated minority ethnic
groups under their control. Markakis noted that " ... forced assimilation not
only was rejected by subordinate groups, but also encouraged them to invoke
their own cultural symbols, most often in religion and language, in the propa-
gation of what may called 'dissident nati~nalism":'~ Ethnicity, however, was
not a root cause of conflict in Ethiopia at the time. The various armed conflicts
between and among the mling groups in different areas of Ethiopia were based
mainly on regional sentiments rather than on ethnic identities. "In the old
Ethiopia, regionalism - as an expression of particularistic sentiments anchored
on feudal relations - was a major source of conflict':15
Religion was a significant factor in conflict in Ethiopia, particularly in the
lbthcentury when the Muslim invasion had a devastating impact on the then
predominantly Christian highland areas, followed by widespread and forced
conversions to Islam.
Not dissimilar to the process elsewhere, state formation in Ethiopia was
punctuated by violent interstate and intra-state conflict. The nature of conflict
between the various regional powers that vied for control of the state was
nearly always violent. In the process "divergent groups were integrated, not
always successfully, into a central state which reflected the values of an elite
strongly Christian orthodox group':16 This being said, the authority of the
Ethiopian rulers before the rule of Menelik I1 was highly diffuse and shifted
between different regions. In the early period, regionalism rooted in feudal
relations was the main source of conflict rather than 'ethnicity: State control